Tag Archives: Hurst

Post navigation

A toddler died Sunday after he was struck by a car in a Hurst apartment complex parking lot, police said.

Lawrence Walker, 2, of Fort Worth, was pronounced dead at 11 p.m. Sunday at Cook Children’s Medical Center. Walker was taken to the hospital after officers found him unresponsive in his mother’s arms around 10 p.m. Saturday in the 600 block of Brown Trail, police said.

Witnesses told police that Walker was walking around the parking lot when he was struck by a vehicle pulling out of a parking space. Police said the driver met with the children’s parents briefly, but fled before paramedics and officers got there.

Police said the death is still under investigation. Walker’s official cause of death has not yet been released.

Local, state and federal authorities have busted up a major prostitution ring operating in Plano, Dallas and Hurst that has national and international ties as part of a two-year investigation dubbed Operation Flaming Dragon.

On Monday, 240 law enforcement agents executed 14 state and federal warrants in North Texas that resulted in 20 arrests. In addition, they shut down nine store fronts posing as massage parlors that were actually being run as brothels. One residence in Dallas County was also raided.

U.S. Attorney Malcolm Bales said at a news conference Wednesday that a federal grand jury has returned a seven-count indictment against 11 people, eight of whom are in custody. Twelve others taken into custody face state charges in Plano and Dallas.

“We dealt a crippling blow to this organization,” Bales said, adding that the investigation continues and more charges are possible.

The indictment alleges that in addition to the store fronts, the ring used apartments and homes rented in Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas. The brothel locations, some promising an “Asian Fantasy,” were advertised on the internet and in a newspaper. And prostitutes were transported among the North Texas locations as well as from California, Nevada and Georgia.

Most of the women involved in the prostitution ring came from the Republic of China or other Asian countries, according to authorities. Bales said investigators have found no evidence to believe human trafficking is involved. Nor have they found any evidence of children being involved, he said.

The indictment alleges that Quyen thuc Ha, also known as Tony Ha, paid $305,000 in multiple bribery payments to a detective in Dallas and another in Plano since March 2011, believing they were protecting his brothels from police enforcement. Instead, the officers were working undercover, recording the transactions and turning the payments over to federal authorities.

The warrants executed on Monday have been sealed, and details about evidence seized is being kept under wraps. But Bales said computer records, phone records and business records have been confiscated and will be examined for further illegal activity. It will be up to local and state authorities to determine whether any of the clientele who frequented these brothels will be prosecuted.

Dallas Morning News reporters Scott Goldstein and Monique O. Madan had some of the details about the Dallas cases in today’s Dallas Morning News.

Agencies involved in the investigation include the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of Texas, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigation and Enforcement and Removal Operations, the Department of State-Diplomatic Security Service, the Plano and Dallas police departments, the Collin County District Attorney’s Office and the Texas Attorney General’s Office.

<strong>Updated at 5:25 p.m.: </strong>Listed in the federal indictment were Quyen Thuc Ha, also known as Tony Ha, 53, of Richardson; Yu Lin Chang, also known as Rica and Jennifer, 37, of Plano; Kim Sey Lau, also known as John Wang and Tony, 56, of Dallas; Lai Iong Chiu, also known as Mindy, Winnie, Wendy and Li Yan Zhou, 46, of Plano; Xia Xu, also known as Coco, 46, of Dallas; Yu Qian, also known as Maggie, 45, of Flower Mound; Li Meng Shank, 42, of Plano; Prapatson Verhotz, 46, of Garland; Tin Min Lo, also known as Gordon, 51, of Coppell, Michael Gene Jones, 64, of Georgetown; and Jia-Her Hwang, also known as Jack, 65, of Richardson. They face charges of conspiracy, the use of interstate facility for unlawful activity and bribery. Officials say Chiu, Xu and Prapatson are not in custody.

Storefronts associated with the prostitution ring were the Hurst Asian Spa in Tarrant County; the Rosemeade Spa in the 3900 block of Rosemeade Parkway near the Bush Turnpike in Dallas; the JJ Asian Health Center in the 5500 block of Alpha Road near Montfort Drive in Dallas; and Spring Creek Village and D-Spa in Dallas. In Collin County were the Asian Therapy Center, the Wellness Therapy, Aljunni Massage (Ni-Ni-Ha Foot Massage) and the Golden Spring Asian Spa.

Dallas Police arrested Pang Hsiang Lin, 51, and Yu Tao Chen, 52, at the Alpha Road spa in Dallas. Yuanli Zhang, 45, was arrested at the Rosemeade Parkway spa in Dallas, and Chinli Yeh, 57, was arrested at a home in the 13300 block of Kit Lane in Dallas, according to documents. The four face charges of engaging in the organized criminal activity of prostitution.

Update, March 7, 8 a.m.: Hurst police say they have upgraded the charges of the suspect, Alexius Tavo, who was arrested yesterday at the elementary school.

Due to the two dozen parents who made statements of concern, police have made the charge of making terroristic threats into a third-degree felony.

Tavo is still in the custody of Hurst police.

Update, 11:45 a.m.: Hurst police say the father who they believe made violent threats against Donna Park Elementary School is in custody at the city jail.

According to authorities, Alexius Tavo violated an emergency protective order to stay away from the school. More updates to come.

Original post: Several parents of young students at a Hurst elementary school are worried about a father who made violent threats that he would “murder as many” people as possible at the school, according to a report from WFAA-TV (Channel 8).

Alexius Tavo, 29, sent the threatening text messages to his son’s mother in January, according to a police report. The two have a son who attends Donna Park Elementary School.

“I will get a machine gun soon,” one text said, according to a report obtained by Channel 8. “Get a bunch of bullets. Then goin to school and murdering as many ppl as possible. Kids and all. And I’m going to put a letter in my pocket and say this is your fault.”

The woman reported the man to police, who arrested Tavo and charged him with making terroristic threats. He was jailed for 45 days.

According to parents at the school, they were not notified until last week, when school administrators sent a letter to families. The letter informed them that the suspect was banned from all Hurst-Euless-Bedford ISD campuses and that an armed Hurst officer would be at Donna Park Elementary to enforce the ban.

According to a police report, Tavo told officers that he drank ten 40-ounce Bud Ice beers in six hours and smoked marijuana before making the threats. He also wept during his interview with police, reports Channel 8, and he told police that he was not in his normal state of mind on that day in January.

Several parents pulled their children out of the elementary school and enrolled them at other campuses with permission from the school district.

Below is the letter sent to parents of students at Donna Park Elementary School:

A Hurst dry cleaner owner arrested in October had fake CIA credentials, weapons and raid gear in his truck, according to a federal search warrant, reports NBC 5.

Azeez Al-Ghaziani, 30, was arrested Oct. 2 after authorities found his wrecked Chevy Silverado in the Hurst strip mall parking lot near his dry cleaning business, where he was sleeping that morning.

Authorities arrested Al-Ghaziani, a former soldier, after finding the suspicious vehicle. Federal authorities obtained a search warrant for the business and SUV, according to NBC 5, and found weapons, documents, the raid and camouflage gear and a half-gram of white powder, which tested positive for methamphetamine. Al-Ghaziani, of Fort Worth, faces a charge of tampering with government documents.

Hurst police have requested the help of the Fort Worth Fire Department in investigating a suspicious SUV parked at a strip mall in Hurst.

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports that a wrecked Chevy Silverado with military documents and weapons was found at a shopping center around 5 a.m., when businesses were closed. Hurst police say they are not sure when the shops will reopen.

“When we contacted military officials, they advised that the vehicle be swept,” said Hurst police Sgt. Craig Teague in a telephone interview.

The Star-Telegram reports a bomb-sniffing dog was on the scene. Teague said rifles and handguns were found in the SUV, but the driver has not been found.